Maybe it’s been a foolish endeavor, and maybe I’m the only one who misses the blog ol’ days, but I’ve been giving it a shot. I’ve been working on restoring some of the old content, though much of it was lost. I’ve slowly been rebuilding the old remix sunday archives, and even posting the occasional new edition. And I’ve been writing again.
You can find all the label’s releases here, on bandcamp, or most anywhere you listen to music these days. I’ve still got copies of some of the old vinyl releases, and I recently released the first in a set of charitable cassette compilations to raise awareness about the continued [mis]use of broken windows policing methods.
Plus, I put together a playlists section with a handful of spotify lists that hopefully start to capture a [slightly] updated version of the moods we used to peddle. Give those a listen and a ❤ if you would be so kind. If you want to get in touch, just give me a holler. Oh, and if you prefer to just start playing all the music on this page before reading any further, go ahead and click ▶︎
London-based producer es.cher recently sent over this lovely song featuring vocalist Choruses from the Rock (a nice T.S. Eliot reference). Gentle rolling 2-step underpins a vocal collage focused on moving around the city wondering if that person feels the same way about you as you feel about them. A youthful concept that’s easy to associate with, the song makes pleasant a concept that characteristically is not. Pretty stuff for lovers (and the unloved).
The song is out now for streaming, and you can grab it for whatever you wish to pay on bandcamp.
The first post I wrote last year after the site’s near-decade hiatus featured old favorite Boys Noize. It was a fitting return for us, as I wrote then, but I imagine some old readers here are wondering where the rave is? where the bass went? what about the 4×4? Well I still dig that stuff (particularly the rave, come on now), but as you’ve probably recognized by now, dear reader, I’ve largely turned my attention towards more contemplative club music (dumb term, but about sums it up). Funny enough though, that’s actually kind of where we started. If you’ve been with us since the beginning, you might remember that early posts on this site were actually often about trip hop, depressed underground hiphop, and even–gasp–indie rock. We changed over time, as we will continue to do.
All of this to say though, there’s always still room for more 4×4 rave. In honor of this sentiment, and ~6 months back in action, here’s a dope new remix of that same Boys Noize & ABRA song, by Solomun. Thanks for sticking with me.
Boys Noize & ABRA – “Affection” (Solomun Remix) (bc)
Swarm Intel Vol. 1 is an ace electro compilation out of Goa from the folks at Orbs Cure Labs, and their new label OCL Records. Really nice to see this kind of stuff coming out of India, which has among the richest of musical histories, but is wildly underrepresented in electronic music (but not for lack of quality material!). The first of the selected songs comes from Sri Lankan Nigel Perera, the second from co-label-boss Pulpy Shilpy, both of whom deliver excellent tunes that live in the realm between dub-electro and glitch.
The record is only available on bandcamp, so head over there and support the project.
Worth noting also that Pulpy Shilpy was recently kicked off instagram for posting news related to lynchings in India directed at the country’s muslim minority population, a practice which, in certain ways, has been systemically condoned by the government (e.g., following riots in protest of anti-muslim hate crimes, a local government razed the homes of dozens of suspected protestors). Instagram has obviously pretended its actions are in the name of protecting users against sexual content. Rich.
On yet another note, the name of the compilation–a reference to the collective behavior of systems (incl. AI)–reminded me of the behavior of Jellyfish and Squid. The proliferation of swarms of these creatures due to the effects of climate change and overfishing is wreaking havoc on coastlines across the world, including in Goa. In Japan, for instance, infestations of Nomura’s Jellyfish (those fucking giant ones) have been so intense that they’ve even clogged thermal cooling lines used to keep Nuclear reactors at temperature. The image above is an example of a swarm of jellyfish off the Devon coast (image by Tommy May).
Nigel Perera – “JFRYSHD” (sc)
Pulpy Shilpy – “Rigor Tortoise” (sc)
If you’re into electro and brain dance, we’ve got a big playlist for that.
Qrauer is a duo from Germany composed of a percussionist Christian Grochau and pianist Ludwig Bauer. “Lustend”, taken from their latest EP, Heeded is an optimistic piece of electronica. It’s deceivingly simple at first blush, but culminates in a cut-and-paste flurry of synthetic organized cacophony. “Stardoll”, also from their newest record, is essentially an interlude–sweet and shy, and perfectly titled. The EP is really worth a listen.
West Coast wonky featuring an AI-generated version of the late East Coast king. Don’t know what to make of this exactly, but hearing Big say words he never said is a trip, especially in unison with a powerpuff girl. An-Ten-Nae has been hustling for a decade and has crossed my radar several times; this one tickled me though. Only on the artist’s soundcloud, I guess for obvious reasons?
An-Ten-Nae – “Raindrops On Roses” (The Biggie Edition) (sc)
Here I go again posting more melancholy breakcore. Who knew this vibe would recapture my attention after all these years?
This one is from Russian producer bezdarnosti, who sent me this track a few weeks ago. A simple but effective two and a half minute breakbeat workout at 165bpm with some chopped lofi chords and an indecipherable vocal sample low in the mix for good measure. No bass to speak of, but it doesn’t need it, it just works.
Out now for streaming, or pay-what-you-wish on bezdarnosti’s bandcamp.
British label Ritual Poison has been slow and deliberate, releasing one or two records a year since 2017, including a couple of recentfavorites of mine from MOY, who I’ve covered previously. But that restraint has been worth it (and perhaps also just a product of necessity, given what the past years have held for most labels)–the label’s output has been faultless.
Their first release of this year came out in January, and it’s probably my favorite so far. It comes from Elliott, one of the DJs behind South London’s Big Dyke Energy, and one half of duo Faff. The other three songs on Transcendence are ravier cuts of ultraviolet electro, all excellent in their own right; but the winner for me is the A1, a track bursting with psychotropic breakbeat NRG and emotive paradisiacal acid.
Another set of killers from KEEFE, I’m starting to think I’ve blogged half his catalog at this point. But KEEFE’s style is just dope, and these tracks serve as a warm reminder of a time on Palms Out when we used to live for this kind of thing.
The featured track on this maxi-single is a punishing bit of electro, probably best suited for 4am warehouse sets. (They still have those right?, somewhere they must; I’m old now.) The A-side is more straight up dark techno than I’d usually post, but no less strong, and with a breakdown that would definitely be at home in a reboot of Blade.
Both out now for streaming, or grab ’em on bandcamp.
Misleading title for this, so don’t be fooled. I’ll admit, I’m not usually one to spend a lot of time listening to mixtapes, so rest assured this is not, in fact, a mixtape, but rather a really lovely song simply titled “Mixtape”.
I’ve been paying attention to Brooklyn-based Varsity Star for a while now, a couple of years after he emerged in 2017. A real manifestation of the heights in quality a “bedroom” producer can ascend to, Varsity Star’s productions are intimate and personal, while still achieving a satisfyingly high-res sheen (i.e., decidedly not lofi). He may do his fair share of genre-melding, but ultimately Varsity Star has a truly realized voice as a composer and producer.
This song is from his latest full length, More Than Anything, released this past November. I’ve also included the closing song from his previous LP, 2020’s That’s Something. As the titles of the selected songs may imply, both albums are really perfect music for headphones. Don’t skip these.
Chicago-based artist K-ORA sent this over a few weeks ago — brooding melancholy ambient for rainy days like the one I’m experiencing right now. Brief enough to be to-the-point, a quality I generally find positive for ambient and drone — “Do You Remember” has plenty of textural detail to grip hold of, making it more than background listening. Not overly concerned with pleasance, but also without any painful dissonance, the song strikes a balance between mood-setting and active listening.
“Do You Remember” is out now as part of K-ORA’s Sphere 2020, a five-song EP that goes beyond the ambience of this song. Only on bandcamp. Definitely worth checking out the whole release if you like this one.
Released as part of the six-song Anxious, a record primarily focused on lofi hiphop sounds, “Heart Attack” is a mesmerizing piece of delicate vapor-juke from Manchester-based Fthlmlss, featuring vocals from folk singer Christie. The subject matter of the song may be intended to reflect the high stress of a cardiac event, but I find it totally soothing. Really lovely stuff here.
Out now for streaming, or available for purchase as part of Anxiouson bandcamp.
